After reading this post , I decided to try the hero combo and see how things worked out and I'm loving it. I figured I might as well post the deck list that I've mostly settled on at this point and let others try it out.

Note: I'm playing Orophin assuming his wording is this:

"Response: After Orophin enters play, return a Silvan ally from your discard pile to your hand."

I believe this is correct judging by arguments I've read here: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/107137-celeborn-decks/?p=1098400 He also obviously has Ranged and/or Sentinel, but that generally doesn't matter in this deck.

By the way, this is the first 3-sphere deck I've ever tried and I'm impressed. Nenya and Sword that was Broken help to smooth things over a lot (plus Steward of Gondor obviously), so I couldn't ask for a better 3-sphere setup that doesn't require songs or tons of other resource-smoothing effects.

Anyway, here's the deck:

Heroes : Starting Threat: 32

Celeborn

Galadriel

Aragorn (Lore)

Allies : 20

3x Naith Guide

3x Silvan Tracker

3x Silvan Refugee

3x Mirkwood Runner

2x Henamarth Riversong

2x Haldir of Lorien

2x Orophin

2x Gandalf (OHaUH)

Attachments : 14

2x Wingfoot

2x Nenya

3x Sword that was Broken

3x Steward of Gondor

2x Unexpected Courage

2x Protector of Lorien

Events : 18

3x The Tree People

3x Legacy of Numenor

3x A Test of Will

3x Hasty Stroke

3x Word of Command

3x Daeron's Runes

I used to have Deep Knowledge instead of Daeron's Runes and I used to have Keys of Orthanc, but it just ended up being slightly unreliable and the deck doesn't start with low enough threat in my opinion. I ended up needing to use Aragorn's ability too early and then having high threat again before the end of the game many times; I would rather have Gandalf cause me to threat out than Deep Knowledge because I get far more benefit from Gandalf (I'd probably change my mind in multiplayer). I keep Legacy of Numenor - and have used it quite often, even in late game - because even though it has a high threat cost, it can mean the difference between playing 0 cards this round to playing 3 cards this round, and it has made that difference (or similar) on a few occasions.

I threw in Protector of Lorien for a few reasons:

• I often end up with duplicate unique cards, so this way I can throw them away.
• None of my heroes has more than 2 defense, so they need some help to defend against more powerful enemies.
• I've never used it before and wanted to give it a try, especially since it's so thematic in this deck.

So far I haven't gotten any real use out of it. I've only gotten it into play a couple times and generally Gandalf and a Celeborn-boosted Haldir are better options for defending. Thus far, it's only really been useful against Dru-buri-Dru since you're not allowed to defend with allies against him. We'll see how it turns out. It could end up being replaced by Arwen.

This is also the first time I've used Word of Command, and I'm loving it. The only thing I have trouble with is finding a time to use it so that Gandalf won't be exhausted when I need him, but even then, I can find a use often enough.

This deck also has a ton of action advantage since any ally can quest for free on the first round they enter play, Gandalf always quests for free, Aragorn gets Wingfoot, Celeborn is generally the target of Naith Guide, and Unexpected courage can be there to let Galadriel use all of her abilities (though I rarely need to use her 4 willpower unless the allies are coming slowly or it's a special quest that uses willpower for tests).

I find it interesting how 1/2 to 2/3 of the deck builds itself, but then it suddenly becomes so difficult to decide which cards to keep and which to toss for the remaining cards. Having 3 spheres certainly doesn't help with that. I love that the card pool is expanding so much and giving me so much choice... but I'll never get to play all the good cards at this rate and it's so dang hard to keep good cards out of my deck.

Anyone have some suggestions? If you do, please tell me what you would take out to put something new in and give me reasons why you think the new card would be a better fit.

Glad you keep enjoying the deck. I had originally run core Gandalf and Sneak Attack in there -- the former having a proper punch and the latter being useful for all the Silvan as well. Also the core Gandalf seems to combo better with Word of Command. I also had a copy of Saruman in the mix, and the aforementioned Deep Knowledge. I had no Courage (and not missing it) and fewer attachments in general. Just if you wanted to improvise a bit further. I did have Protector on Celeborn and usually ended up with him questing, and when Naith Guide entered play, he would be ready for defense as well.

Can't wait for PsychoRocka to make a version of this deck. Psycho In-Laws for the win!

I do like your "signature" Bullroarer, I like it very much.

Yea, I've been thinking about Core Gandalf. In this deck, I'd prefer to either use him without Sneak Attack or wait until I have Word of Command out in order to make sure I make good use of him. If you pay for him normally, you get his Action and then get to use his numbers for questing and combat (thanks to Galadriel), so he'd essentially be converted to a 1-round version of OHaUH Gandalf with a strong versatile ability to make up for only being in play for a single round. There seems to be too many cards to wait around for in order to set up the Sneak Attack -> Gandalf -> Word of Command combo, so I think I'd prefer to leave out Sneak Attack and Word of Command in this instance and make room for other good cards.

When I tried Sarumon, I found that there never seemed to be a card in the staging area that was worth making disappear. Generally, I'd prefer to phase out an enemy, but with the high threat they would engage me and no longer be in the staging area, so I would be required to Sneak Attack him in during questing, which just didn't seem helpful enough because I was paying 1 resource (paid back with Keys of Orthanc if it is out) and 3 threat just to make an enemy disappear for the rest of the round. I had no chance to use his awesome stats at all unless I was playing Late Adventurer (making another 3-card combo that seems unlikely to show up).

I'm considering taking out Unexpected Courage (baffling for me to think of doing such a thing!) because in general it was simply for Galadriel and I rarely need her additional 4 willpower. Maybe I'd keep it as a side board card for quests that need willpower tests or in situations where I need to use willpower to attack (Stone of Erech, Druadan Forest), but in those cases, I can generally just skip her usual ability.

I usually don't use Celeborn to quest unless I play Naith Guide that round because I prefer to use him as the defender (Silvan Tracker can heal him) over Aragorn (who can ready with Wingfoot and has better attack), so Protector of Lorien is only used for adding defense (even if Celeborn was questing, he generally doesn't need a willpower boost). I generally don't mind chump blocking too much if I need to because I can generally afford to bring in more allies and Orophin can bring them back from the grave, so that's another hit against needing Protector of Lorien. I don't know. Protector of Lorien is a relatively recent addition, so it needs some more play time to prove its worth to me.

Changes I'm Contemplating:

Take out 1x Word of Command and 2x Unexpected Courage. Add in 1x Protector of Lorien and 2x Island Amid Peril.

Reasoning:

• I tend to end up with a spare copy of Word of Command in my hand or throwing it out with Daeron's Runes if I don't have a duplicate unique, which proves to myself how much I value the other cards over it.
• Unexpected Courage is seeming less and less necessary, as I mentioned earlier
• An additional Protector of Lorien would (1) give me more chance to try it out and (2) give another card that other copies of Protector of Lorien can discard.
• Island Amid Peril can help delay using Aragorn's ability or keep my threat lower after Aragorn does use his ability. It also gives an ally another chance to come into play and receive the 1st-round bonuses.

What do you guys think?

I had said that before, Courage seems almost useless in this deck. Well, it is not useless, but I would argue you can find better fitting cards, and thematic choices. I too hardly ever use Galadriel for questing boost. So yes, I would drop UC. And yes, I would add Protector if you have so many spares but I can actually see you could do with less attachments?

What makes you think I should have fewer attachments?

I think you can do with fewer attachments because Silvan are strong on their own: and Silvan mean allies, attachments usually go to heroes, and this is not a hero-centric deck by any means, both Celeborn and Galadriel shine because of their passive abilities, and Strider also. Strider is there to take back the threat, and I also enjoyed his 3 attack in an otherwise not as combatant deck. But to have a hero of 12 threat cost only to strike for 3 would be strange if it were not for the vast threat reduction.

Also, I considered (after your suggestion) Steward of Gondor but I almost find it redundant in this deck. Legacy of Númenor was ever all I needed, the Silvan are rather cheap, and you can get around some of the cost with the Tree People. Wingfoot is nice, once you have Henamarth, but I would not take more than a copy. But I would always, always take three copies of Henamarth, he is nothing less than gold in the deck, a card I often mulligan for.

For the most part, I agree with your analysis, but I don't really think there are any additional allies that I'm really excited to add in. And I haven't found the need to add another Henamarth, though it's not a bad idea.

I'm actually thinking about adding Light of Valinor for Celeborn and taking out Wingfoot, so Henamarth is actually losing a bit of usefulness, though not a lot. Celeborn has 3 willpower vs Aragorn's 2, so I'd rather have him be the one who is always questing. It was certainly fun using Wingfoot and it works extremely well, especially with Henamarth, but with this deck I think LoV is probably a better choice... unless I added in Celebrian's Stone soo many options

As much as I want to focus on the allies in this deck, which it already does somewhat well, we have some very powerful heroes here, so I'm going to try to utilize them as much as possible, otherwise the 32 starting threat is worthless. Might as well swap out Aragorn for someone with lower threat, like Mirlonde, who also has the ability to be healed by Silvan Tracker (though we can't use Sword that was Broken without him, so the allies lose a bit of power). During the late-game, if things go as they should, you might as well remove the heroes, but there's no reason to leave them in the dark. Build them up and make them awesome.

...

At this point I'm considering experimenting with a bunch of things to see how they work out. I'll certainly try some of your suggestions.

Protector is a great card, though I tend to go for card draw over questing and defence. The problem with protector is that it only really aids in late game when you are probably set up. If you are relying on it then your early game can be weak.

I forget his name of the top of my , I think it is estor or something. A leadership elf who is basically a permanent rune. Discard a card draw a card. He is my choice for decks with lots of redundant draws.

Erestor is an interesting idea, but Galadiel + Daeron's Runes provides plenty of card draw. Protector seems useful in this deck because no one has higher then 2 defense (except Gandalf and Haldir on his first turn). If I can help it, I prefer not to chump block too often, so this deck needs some more defense. Since defense is the main use, maybe Dunedain Warnings are a better choice?

Arwen is a good way to boost them to 3 defense easily.

Also never underestimate Burning Brand. Remember it can go on Lore characters, not just heroes. Your already running Haldir how about Gildor. He comes in at 3 defense and can take a boost from Arwen for 4 defense.. and take a brand! Pretty neat Still this is straying a little form the base deck hehe.. so cool how we are finally starting to get a decent card pool!

These kinds of choices need to be played with to really find the value in them.. but Erestor basically allows you to remove / replace 5 slots in your deck. Dumping Runes and Protector. The steady card draw means that any +defence cards you use can be dug up faster (like Warnings), and of course you have +2 for questing.

The thing I like about Erestor is that unlike Protector he is always active. Questing, drawing cards.. this is something you can do every turn, while Protector is a one or 2 shot kind of thing. A "wait for the right moment" card that dose nothing for most of the game.

You will also soon run out of cards if you use it to much, or defend well one turn and then the next turn.. have nothing. Warnings or even splashing tactics can boost defense permanently, and this is what I aim for in deck design. Stability. If you are relying on Protector to defend, or quest.. what happens when you have no cards to discard? The deck fails.

The deck wouldn't fail. I'd just have to chump block. Then again, it has a very hard time against enemies that are tough and can't be blocked by allies or effects that punish you for the chatacter dying, etc.

In the end, I really wanna give Protector of Lorien a shot but I think I'll be switching to Dunedain Warnings st some point.